SAN BERNARDINO – The county’s top election official said Wednesday that her office is likely to perform a hand count before certifying results in the race to represent the city’s 1st Ward.

“I might do that because this is such a close race,” said Kari Verjil, registrar of voters for San Bernardino County.

Semi-official election results show challenger Virginia Marquez with a nine-vote lead over incumbent Esther Estrada, the City Council’s longest serving member. The 1st Ward includes downtown, part of the Westside and the area around San Bernardino International Airport.

Verjil said she plans to record final election results by Nov. 23.

A hand count would be technically different from a recount. A candidate or citizen would be able to request a recount after the Registrar of Voters office completes its canvassing of votes cast in Tuesday’s election.

Even if a hand count shows that semi-official results in the 1st Ward race were completely accurate, there is still a chance that Estrada could emerge as the ultimate winner.

“Like anything else, if it’s not documented, it doesn’t exist, so I’m waiting for the official numbers,” said Marquez, who on Wednesday was nonetheless excited by the possibility that she was the victorious candidate.

Verjil said there are about 6,000 mail-in ballots from across San Bernardino County that haven’t been counted. An estimated 175 of those ballots are from 1st Ward voters.

The uncounted ballots could have been hand-delivered to elections officials on Tuesday or arrived in the mail prior to the Election Day deadline.

The Registrar of Voters’ next scheduled update on election results is 5 p.m. Friday.

Tuesday’s election also included contests for the Mayor’s Office as well as the 2nd and 4th council wards.

The results of the 1st Ward election could determine whether reelected Mayor Pat Morris can continue to govern with a council majority on his side.

In the 2nd Ward, however, challenger Jason Desjardins is the likely winner over Morris-friendly incumbent Dennis Baxter.

Desjardins had the same campaign consultant as City Attorney James F. Penman, Morris’ leading opponent in the mayoral race. Desjardins said Wednesday that he doesn’t want to be considered tied to any political cliques.

“Until you see me vote, it would be kind of hard to paint me into that corner,” Desjardins said.

All three council elections were close. Desjardins had a 50-vote advantage over Baxter in the most recent vote count. Shorett won 98 votes more than Arnett.

Andrew Edwards is part of the Southern California News Group's business team and focuses on housing stories for the Inland Empire. He's based at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and has also worked for publications including the Long Beach Press-Telegram and The San Bernardino Sun. He graduated from UCLA in 2003 after studying political science and history.